Native Plant Database

Atriplex canescens

Chamiso, Four-wing saltbush, Fourwing saltbush, Wingscale

Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot Family)

Flaigg, Norman G.

Four-wing saltbush is a 3 ft., semi-evergreenshrub which can reach 8 ft. Summer flowers are insignificant, but the clusters of gold-tan, four-winged fruits, which occur on female plants only, are showy. The branches and small, narrow leaves of this mound-shaped shrub are covered with a dense, silvery pubescence. Extremely variable shrub: compact and rounded; sprawling and low; to open-branched and treelike.

There are many varieties of Four-winged Saltbush. The plant is known to hybridize with at least a dozen other Atriplex species, and new forms and varieties continue to arise.